Home Sweet Home | Gwenn Goes Local Spot #2

Well, I am SO glad you are wondering because I have the answer for ya.

I named this guy ‘home sweet home’ because this post hits a little too close to home, actually right smack dab in my first bedroom in my lovely brown brick home.

And it is in that bedroom that is now a small office, where the best guy in town runs his own marketing company.

Central Illinois Marketing = CIM.

No- that guy isn’t a random stranger, I promise.

That guy is my dad.

As I mentioned in my post introducing Gwenn Goes Local, my dad is the only reason I even want to support the local shops and restaurants in my hometown (besides the fact that I truly believe we should). I want to support them because he is one of them. And he does one heck of a job.

So here are three things/takewaways from literally working next door to my Pops’ marketing company CIM:

1. Dedicated, Motivated, Disciplined: My dad is successful because he works for it. He is the hardest working man on the planet, and his self-discipline and leadership qualities are something I hope to one day possess. He taught me how to hold my head high, to always be a leader not a follower, and to rub some dirt in it- all things I am sure he has had to learn the hard way, and I would say his own, successful business is a reward from those tough lessons and hard work.

2. The Office Space: about 10 years ago (I think I am exaggerating but I really have no idea when this actually happened), my mom and I took it upon ourselves to buy a few knick knacks for my Dad’s home office. Those knick knacks included the cool (and the then super new) big gold letters (C.I.M), a cheesy mousepad with my parent’s faces on it, and some really horrible sibling pictures of my brother and I. All I have to say is that we spruced his work place UP and we should be given credit for all the success he has made because we created such a wonderful work environment. All a joke, certainly, but what isn’t a joke is how much I love that my dad works from home. It used to be that I came home to my dad every day, and every now and then he could drop something off for me at school or work, but now it is even more of a blessing, for him and his new daily schedule of living with Parkinsons, and I selfishly get to wake up and hangout with him any morning I want (which isn’t often since I am not a morning person, but still..).

3. A Stellar Personality: Okay, so I may be a little biased, but I think my dad is the funniest person, like, ever. And it is his humor and his selflessness that gets him hired. He can work with anyone and everyone because he puts others first, can laugh it off or make a joke of it, and I am so dang lucky to have gotten those qualities from him. In fact, I made a huge mistake in my internship ( of 4 days yesterday), accidentally tweeting about the bathroom and popcorn on my church’s account instead of my own, and you wanna know how I dealt with such an embarrassing thing? I got super red faced, cried half a tear of embarrassment (not really, but close to it), and then laughed it off. In my dad’s own words: “something worse could have happen to ya”- which is more than true. And I am thankful that he is the way he is because it is his personality that makes him such a great asset to any business.

So there you have it- a local business that is near and dear to my heart.